William lawson van haelingen



(No Model.)

VAN HARLINGEN.

FASTENING FOR RAILROAD RAIL JOINTS.

. Patented May 10, 1887.

Witnesse Inventor 39 his dtforzwy m UNITED STATES PATENT @FFICE.

WILLIAM LAW'SON VAN HARLINGEN, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO\VILLIAM LOXVRY VAN HARLING'EN, OF SAME PLACE.

FASTENING FOR RAILROAD-RAIL JOINTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 362,861, dated May 10,1887.

Application filed February 21, 1987. Serial No. 128,353. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it. known that 1, WILLIAM Lawson VAN HARLINGEN, a citizen of theUnited States of America, residing at San Francisco, in the county ofSan Francisco and State of California, have invented certain new anduseful Inr provements in Fastenings for Railroad-Rail Joints, of whichthe following is a specification, reference being had therein to theaccom- IO panying drawings.

My invention relates to fastenings for railroad-rail joints; and itconsists of a headed bolt, the shank of which is of uniform diameterthroughout its length, and has a recess on two opposite sides near itsouter end, one of the walls of each of said recesses being at an acuteangle to the axis of the bolt and inclined toward the head, and atwo-armed key flat on one side, the opposite side of the arms of the keybeing wedge'sliaped and beveled toward their outer edges, the bolt andkey being combined in the manner hereinafter described.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of two railroadrails secured together byfish-plates and my improved bolts and keys. Fig. 2 is a transversesection taken on the line 00 x of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan view of thebolt. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the bolt. Fig. 5 is a per- 0spective View of the key.

Referring to the drawings, A A represent two T-rails, and B B thefish-plates, all of the ordinary construction.

0 represents my improved bolt, which may be either round, square, or ofother regular shape, its diameter being equal throughout its length. blehead at one end, and near its other end, on opposite sides, are formedrecesses c, for

40 the reception of the key. The bottom of each recess is in ahorizontal plane with the axis of the bolt, the back wall at a rightangle to the bottom, and the front wall at an acute angle to the bottomand slightly inclined to- 5 ward the head of the bolt, all as clearlyshown in Figs. 3 and 4.

D represents my two-armed key for tight ening the bolt and locking it inposition, of which 1 is the head, and 2 2 the arms, formed The bolt isprovided with a suitaintegral with the head. As will be seen in Fig. 5,the key is fiat on its rear side, but the arms are wedge shaped on thefront side and beveled off toward their outer edges, leaving shoulders 33 on the under side of the head. Thekey is made of wrought-iron or othersuitable flexible material.

In use the bolt is put through the rail and fislrplates, the recesses inthe bolt being so positioned as not to extend quite through the plate onthe inner side of the rail. The key is then placed on thebolt with thefiat side against the plate and the wedge-shaped and beveled side of thearms in engagement with the inclined front walls of the recesses. Thekey is then driven transversely of the bolt, and exerts a wedging actionon the plates and bolt. Vhen the plates are drawn tightly to the rails,the protruding ends of the arms of the key are bent, as shown in Fig. 1,to prevent the key from working loose on the bolt. Should it bedesirable at any time to remove the key, this can easily be done bystraightening the arms and driving any suitable instrument against theshoulders on the heads.

The merits of my invention reside in its OX- 5 treme simplicity andeffectiveness. Any ordinary bolt may be usediby simply cutting therecesses in them. The holes through the rails and fish-plates need be nolarger than is necessary to receive the shank of the bolt, and noappliance is required to prevent the bolt from turning, as, no matter inwhat position it may be, the key cannot work loose.

It will be apparent that my invention is applicable not alone to the useabove stated,but that it can be cheaply, conveniently, and effectivelyemployed in securing together the timbers of bridges and other likestructures.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Let ters Patent, is

1. The combination, with a headed bolt the shank of which is of uniformdiameter through out its length and has a recess on two opposite sides,near its outer ends, one of the walls 5 of each of said recesses beingat an acute angle to the axis of the bolt and slightly inclined towardthe head, of a two-armed key flat on one side, the opposite side of thearms of the key being wedge-shaped and beveled toward their outer edges,for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, with a headed bolt the shank of which is of uniformdiameter throughout its length and has a recess on two opposite sides,near its outer ends, the bottoms of said recesses being parallel withthe axis of the bolt, and one of the walls of each being at an acuteangle to the bottom of the recess and slightly inclined toward the headof the bolt,

of a two-armed flexible key flat on one side, and having a shoulderedhead, the opposite side of the arms of the key being wedge-shaped andbeveled toward their outer edges, for the I 5 purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM LAWSON VAN HARLINGEN. Witnesses:

WM. H. 1\/IYERS, WM. LOWRY VAN HARLINGEN.

